Little Thomas

Back yard of my parents' house, where I've been studying for the week. Look at the size of the trees!

Back yard.

My little nephew Thomas. In spite of how he looks he was quite comfortable in this position,  and had been sleeping peacefully.

Thomas sleeping on my brother-in-law Pat.

Dear Friends and Family,

A few days ago little Thomas, pictured above, was taking a nap. I sat studying with a baby-monitor next to me, keeping an eye on him since everyone else was out. Baby monitors have improved a lot since I was little. This one even shows you a live video of the baby sleeping. So I watched him sleep, toss and turn, sigh, and then... wake up.. earlier than expected, while everyone was still out. He began to fuss and I at first dutifully followed orders to let him fuss for a bit, to see if he would fall back asleep or really cry. He began to really cry... so I made my way into his room to pick him up.

As the door opened he settled down a bit to examine just who was walking into his room. But as I bent down to pick him up I think he determined that I was neither his mom, nor someone familiar and so he began to cry more intensely. OK, I thought, walk him, pat him on the back, and bounce him a little. That should work.

No dice. I walked him around the house but he kept crying loudly. Then I remembered... he loves to stare at moving ceiling fans. So I quickly made my way onto the porch, turned on the fan and then spent a while juggling him in one arm while trying to get the fan speed to slow down with the other arm, so that he could actually see it spin. He kept screaming for a few moments but then, as I rocked him in a porch chair from which he could stare at the spinning fan, he finally began to calm down and we had some moments to just sit there together. I sang the Ave Maria and we watched the fan spin...

And it occurred to me that such activities are what occupies, and has occupied for centuries, much of the days and nights of mothers for a significant portion of their life. Rock baby, help baby sleep, pray for baby, talk to him, feed baby, change diaper, etc. etc. etc. then repeat. Such simple, hidden things that the world doesn't notice. And to think that the Virgin Mary is doing all this on the spiritual level each moment of each day for me. Looking after me, protecting me, nourishing my soul, praying for me, trying to guide me, correcting me when I've sinned, placing peace and joy in the soul, and a thousand other actions in our souls.. What a gift it is to have such a Heavenly Mother! 

A few minutes later my dad walked in the door and claimed little Thomas and I went back to studying, which is how I spent the week: early morning prayer and Mass, study, at some point head to an adoration chapel to make a Holy Hour, keep studying, exercise, dinner and some time with family, repeat. A blessed way to spend a week.

This Tuesday are my comprehensive exams as the final exams to become a canon lawyer. We are supposed to be prepared to answer any question regarding the entire code of canon law, but with particular reference to fifteen topics that I have been focussing on: general decrees and instructions, the rights and duties of the Christian faithful, the rights and duties of the laity, Mass stipends and their administration, penal censures and the process of imposing penal sanctions, religious communities' administration of temporal goods, processes for investigating the nullity of a marriage, marriage law on consent and impediments to marriage, administration of temporal goods in dioceses and parishes, the Church's oversight of books and other means of communication, juridic persons in the Church, and private and public associations of the faithful.

On Tuesday morning I'll have two 30 minute oral examinations, each with two professors. Hopefully I will come out of it a canon lawyer.

Lastly, I wish to say a particular word of thanks to those of you who have so generously been making my studies and priestly ministry during this time possible thanks to your donations. I offered Friday's Mass, as I do every first Friday, for you and your intentions.

On this Pentecost Sunday may Jesus and Mary watch over you, protect you, and guide you to become a saint one day.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,

Fr. Tony Pillari